[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, hey, hello everybody. it is tuesday. tuesday, june 12. and here we go with the "full court press" on current tv this tuesday morning. good to see you this morning. thank you for joining us as we tackle the big stories of the day. whether they're here in our can you believe it here we go. this is the "full court press." we invite you to join us to find out what is happening today and to talk about it.

give us a call and join the conversation at anytime. tonight the vice presidential debate. pressure on joe biden to do better than president obama did last week. and the choice will still remain, going forward with barack obama or backward with mitt romney. now with today's current news update. lisa ferguson out in los angeles. >> good morning, everyone. the vice presidential debate is tonight. joe biden arrives in danville kentucky at 12:45 this afternoon. the debate is at 9:00 pm eastern time. you can expect the attack dog coming from joe biden tonight.

his main goal is to make up for lost ground after the presidential debate last week. ryan is expecting it, though. so there is a chance he will be well prepared. he told a detroit radio station earlier this week, he thinks biden will come at him like a cannon ball. that aggressive stance is not something we saw from the president last week. >> obama: as i said the -- you know there's no doubt that i can make a better case which is why i'm so looking forward to tuesday. >> it is possible you handed him the election that night? >> no. >> debates do not have a strong history of changing the outcome of a presidential race and for the most part we do not expect these debates to do so either. but romney is seeing a big

post-debate gain in the polls. romney's biggest jump in is virginia where he now leads the president by just one point. more bill coming up after the break. stay with us. >> i work with adults with developmental disabilities. growing up i had a single mother of four and people in the community were so helpful when they didn't even have much themselves. seeing people and their hardships made me want to make a difference in people's lives to give them hope. receiving a masters degree would open the doors for me to get into a management position where i would be able to do more for people.

i can't stand these spots. those spots are actually leftover food and detergent residue that can redeposit on your dishware during the rinse cycle.

gross. jet-dry rinse agent helps wash them away so the only thing left behind is the shine. jet-dry rinses away residues for a sparkling shine. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. get ready to rumble, big vice presidential debate tonight. what do you say hello, everybody. great to see you today on this thursday. thursday october 11, 2012. it is the "full court press." your american league and national league baseball playoffs headquarters here

coming to you live from our nation's capitol home of the nats didn't do to well yesterday. but an exciting game nonetheless. good to see you today. we have a lot to talk about. going to focus mostly on the vice presidential debate tonight. what is going to happen? what are you counts for from joe biden. we'll talk all about that and today your calls at 866-55-press 866-557-7377. good to see you. the steam in place, and ready to go. unlike the nats yesterday. peter ogburn and dan henning. >> good morning. >> bill: and siprion bolling still on special assignment aka jamaica, one of those. and monty filling in and doing

a good job. dan it is your fault. >> no no. it is actually you and your wife's fault. >> bill: i knew you would blame carol. >> when we ended the show yesterday, you were not going to the game. >> bill: yeah, i scored two tickets. i canceled an interview with the bbc, a lunch a friend and a white house briefing and said, come on carol we're going to go the game. >> it used to be that people would make up excuses to not go to a nationals game. >> they had the largest crowd ever, yesterday. over 45,000 people. >> bill: it was very exciting to be here. in fact i brought my flag. >> you know that was cool.

>> bill: that was cool. did you see that whole sea of red flags waving? >> yeah. >> bill: it was exciting to be there because the place was backed. and they are hanging on every pitch -- >> big spirited crowd. >> bill: oh, and did we say the nationals left. >> the nationals did not lose that game. the st. louis cardinals won that game. the nationals had hits too, but they left 11 men on base. >> bill: i know. >> when they lose 8-0 -- >> bill: at one point i looked it was 11 hits for the cardinals and 7 or 8 or something for the nats. they should have had runs on the board. >> yeah, but they didn't. today is a must win otherwise the nates are done. 5:07 -- >> bill: 4:07.

>> yeah 4:07. >> bill: i am counting on them today. >> i might go today, because more tickets are available. because it might be their last game of the someone. >> bill: yeah talk about me canceling things to get there. there was a front page article in the "washington post" about people showing up -- all of these people -- that stadium was filled with a lot of people who should have been at work. >> and it's called the businessman's special in washington. you have people in ties and then the jersey over the tie. >> bill: yeah, one guy showed and he wouldn't give the post his name because his boss thought he was at his opthamologist.

>> yeah. >> bill: when i called the bbc to say, guess what i'm not going to be able to make that interview, and i tell them why, and the guy said i don't you. go. go. >> bill: wanda somers is going to join us today. and meet the candidates continues. jim graves a candidate running in minnesota's 6th congressional district. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> a load of strong evidence against lance armstrong in the doping case was released yesterday. the agency putting out over a thousand of ages of testimony from 26 people, 15 are cyclists

talking about lance arm strong's use. the evidence shows beyond any doubt that the pro cycling team ran the most sophisticated and successful doping program that successful sports has ever seen quote. >> bill: just reading that it is unbelievable. he has doctors on the payroll, and flying from france to spain to have the blood removed -- oh my god. this guy is a mastermind criminal. >> he is like a supervillain. >> it is. i idolized him as a hero too. >> uh-huh. michelle obama said along with

threatening to walk out of the white house gates without telling anyone, she finds herself wanting to go to cvs and go in and buy soap on her own, she also wants to bo around washington rather than just the white house. >> bill: listen i have been to cvs, it ain't no big deal. [ laughter ] >> and coca-cola is stopping filling its returnable 80-ounce glass battles. those bottles have not been produced since the 1960s, and people weren't returning enough to make it worth the work anymore. you can still get the 8 ounce

bottles -- >> bill: like the little ones? >> right. >> bill: you can get those in restaurants -- >> okay. that one i'm not so worried about then. >> if it's 6.5 ounce tall slender, it was the iconic glass coke bottle. >> bill: and no more huh? >> it bums me out that this is our own doing. not enough people were returning them, that they can't do it anymore. so it's our own damn fault. >> bill: yes indeed. tonight the vice presidential debate, joe biden for our side paul ryan for the other side. they meet in lexington, kentucky. what time is it? >> 9:00 tonight. >> bill: i thought it was a little earlier --

>> no. >> bill: god. again. >> stock up on your coffee. >> bill: a lot of buzz and pressure on vice president biden to pick up the pace again, to go on the attack, to be aggressive assertive in all of the ways that president obama was not by his own admission last week in his presidential debate. and a lot of pressure also on paul ryan, of course to keep up the pace and perform as well as mitt romney did in his debate last week with president obama. the president himself even talked about it yesterday. gave an interview with diane sawyer. she asked him first of all what happened to you when you got on stage with old mittens? >> that debate what happened? >> obama: well governor romney had a good night.

i had a bad night. it's not the first time i had a bad night, but i think what is important is that the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed. governor romney went to a lot of trouble to try to hide what his positions are. >> bill: good way to sum it up. i had a bad night. he had a good night, but he just told a back of lies. and then he was asked what about the participates in tonight's debate. first of what do you expect from paul ryan? >> obama: congressman ryan is a smart and effective speaker, but it ideas are the wrong ones and joe understands that. >> bill: oh. oh. so he is saying don't lower your expectations. and what do you think joe biden has to do mr. president. >> what is your message to joe

biden about tomorrow night? >> obama: i think joe needs to be joe. >> bill: joe needs to be joe. so here is the question. what do you want to see from joe biden tonight. what has he got do? what are you looking for? i think there are a couple of things that are very important. one is that joe really has to come out and be joe and not let paul ryan get away with all of the lies that he told in tampa and all of the lies that mitt romney told last week in denver. you know paul ryan is going to try to trot that crap out there. he'll probably even talk about the gm plant that president

obama closed down. and the $716 billion that they claim president obama cut out of medicare, when he didn't. i bet they try to claim that they are not going to cut taxes in way that willed a to the deficit, and i'll bet they are also claim that they are not going to raise taxes on the middle class, but they'll give the middle class a tax break. all of those lies we have heard before. and obamacare is a big government program. i don't think joe can be too aggressive. he doesn't have to be obnoxious. that's not his style anyhow. but he has to take on every single one of those. the other thing i think is is important for joe biden, i believe, that he has got to remember, that this is not for

him. nobody is going to vote for him or paul ryan. if you are going to vote for just joe biden or paul ryan. if you want to vote for paul ryan and joe biden, you can't do that. it's not about paul or joe, it's about barack obama and mitt romney. and joe biden has to keep bringing it back to the fundamental choices. move forward with obama or move backward with mitt romney. i think joe has to make that point over and over and over again. and then i think it is important for us to realize that in the past there have been some interesting moments in vice presidential debates. we remember when dan quayle said he had as much experience in

congress, and he said senator, i served with jack kennedy, jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you are no jack kennedy. memorable moments. there have been others. bob dole who proved to be such a hatchet man. but the vice presidential debate has never changed anything. yes, it is important but not that important. the choice remains barack obama versus mitt romney, but aren't we all counts on joe to come out and challenge paul ryan on every one of his lies and expose the lies that he and mitt romney have been telling? we're looking forward to tonight. 866-55-press, the "full court press" on this thursday october 11th. good to have you with us. >> announcer: radio meets

television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. ♪ of this democracy and see your tweets up on our screen. >>now that's politically direct. [ female announcer ] pillsbury crescents fabulous but...when i add chicken barbecue sauce... and cheese...and roll it up woo-wee! i've made a barbecue chicken crescent chow down. pillsbury crescents. let the making begin. [ female announcer ] why settle for plain bread? here's a better idea. pillsbury grands! flaky layers biscuits in just 15 minutes the light delicate layers add a layer of warmth to your

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♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: who am i? why aim here? [ laughter ] >> bill: remember that was admiral james stockdale who is the independent candidate for ross perreault. and even though lloyd benson got off that great zinger against dan quayle, of course, dan

quayle became vice president. we're talking about the vice presidential debate on the "full court press" this morning. and what is going to happen tonight. pj is in miami. good morning. >> caller: hey, how are you doing, bill? >> bill: all right. what is going on? >> caller: we just want joe to be joe, and keep it coming at him, and paul has his talking points and we want him to get all jumbled up. >> bill: joe is joe. he has a lot of experience and is very smart, and he is a great debater. in the senate we have seen him grill people. he doesn't let people get away with any crap. remember when he took on clarence thomas.

>> caller: exactly. joe we're fired up today. we're going to the rally today with the president. the tickets were gone within hours. >> bill: all right. give him a good welcome pj. it's jb in greensberg north carolina. >> caller: good morning, i have a disagreement with you about obama and romney. i think when ryan is called out by joe biden on some of his stupid ideas, ryan is going to say, well, these might be my ideas, but i'm running for vice president, i'm going to follow ryan's ideas -- >> bill: romney's ideas. >> caller: and the vice president is a heart beat away from the presidency and biden should say we could very well be saddled with your stupid ideas if romney were to die in office. >> bill: yeah, that's a good

point. and romney has been trying all along to say it's my agenda not his agenda but romney said he would like to sign the paul ryan budget on day one of his presidency. >> caller: romney could fall of his dressage horse and break his neck, and we would be stuck with paul ryan. >> bill: yeah it is important who is vice president. i hear ya. paul calling from lucern, california? hey, paul. >> caller: how is it going bill? >> bill: all right. what is going on? >> caller: they seem to pick on the president an awful lot. they don't seem to pick on joe that much. >> bill: he gets his share of picking on. they are always calling him

mr. gaffe and mr. stupid which he is not. and tonight we want joe to be joe. go after ryan. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ will have achieved their end of i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. we're going to join wanda somers who has been on the campaign trial with mitt romney heading to -- and she's heading to lexington, virginia for the vice presidential -- kentucky rather -- for the vice presidential debate tonight. she'll join us in the next segment. and we're taking your calls about what you are looking for tonight. we'll get back to your calls at

866-55-press here on the "full court press." 33 minutes after the hour this thursday morning. first here is one of these articles about identity theft that caught my attention. three people in florida have been arrested facing charges of making thousands of dollars in purchases with -- using the identity that they stole from several current and former employees of a elementary school where a relative of one of the suspects worked. there you go. it's important to make sure you have protection. i encourage you to get life lock ultimate. even covers your bank account. but they can't protect you or your bank account if you are not a member. so call now and mention press 60

for 60 free days of life lock protection. if you are not happy, you can kanell after 60 days. call now 1-800-356-5967. your washington nationals headquarters here this morning. brutal game. the nats are going to tie it up today and force a fifth game and they will win and move on. keep hope alive today. are we keeping hope alive with joe biden tonight, what do you say, steve? >> caller: good morning, bill and go nats. >> bill: yes indeed. >> caller: i would like to see joe hold ryan's feet to the fire on the issues that you

discussed, and to the issues that mitt has gone to that have become a little bit more moderate conservative. >> bill: uh-huh. right. by the way -- one thing i meant to mention too is i hope joe biden will raise the issue of 47%, right? >> caller: right. >> bill: we have to remind people about that comment. but like on the issue of abortion romney a month ago said i can't wait to appoint supreme court justices that will overturn roe v. wade. and a couple of days ago he said i'm not going to put any more restrictions on a women's access to abortion. and yesterday he came out and said this. >> romney: i think i have said time and again, i'm a pro-life

candidate, and i'll be a pro-life president. >> bill: he has gone flip flop flip on that one issue alone. and you are right, steve. that's an opening for joe biden. >> caller: that's right. >> bill: so i think on issue after issue after issue, joe biden is going to say wait a minute mitt this about health care, and now he is saying this. on jobs he said this. now he is saying this. on tax he said this now he is saying that. there is so many opportunities there. in chino, california hello geno. >> caller: good morning. i don't think it's going to do the democrats any good, unless

obama has a stellar performance himself. they are going to be looking at whether or not he is going to be strong and come out with a good performance, because if obama do a bad performance, this debate tonight ain't going to matter. >> bill: yeah i agree and disagree, i guess, gene. you are right, the second presidential debate is more important than this debate tonight. but the debate tonight is important given the fact that obama didn't do so well and given the fact that mitt romney told so many lies the last time around. that this debate tonight is not going to be the game changer, but it's more important than it normally would be, because people are going to be looking at joe biden to see if he can get the momentum going again

obama's favor. the new york time's front page points out that in virginia president obama is up five points, in wisconsin president obama still up three points over mitt romney. and it's a dead tie in colorado. but democrats just want to feel good and joe biden can make us all feel good. lisa, hi. >> caller: bill, you are scaring me. >> bill: why? >> caller: i know you watch your other hosts there on the current tv and i watch cenk uygur and

governor grandholm, before the debate for president obama and they gave strategy away. they said if i were romney i would come from the center. and they did that. now maybe they already had that in mind but, you know, the romney camp listens to current tv because your programs -- i know they listen to you too your programs are the best in liberal ideas. >> bill: well, thank you for that. yeah. >> caller: but right now, you are like giving away the strategy. if i were the vice president this is what i would say. you know, they are listening and they are going to say, well we're going to come back with because -- >> bill: okay. i want to reassure you, lisa.

that mitt romney moving to the center and mitt romney telling any lies he didn't that advice -- he didn't need that advice from jen or cenk uygur or from me, and for joe biden to have to be aggressive tonight and not let paul ryan away with telling lies he doesn't need that advice from me either. these guys have all of their advisors, they are very, very smart. they know what they are doing. so i don't think you need to worry that we're letting the cat out of the bag. debbie in chicago. good morning, debbie. >> caller: good morning. i'm hoping tonight that joe biden will remember that paul ryan was part of the group that met to determine they would block everything. >> bill: good point. >> caller: i think has democrats

we tend to acquiesce. joe biden can defend president obama and stand out. i think it will just be a stellar performance. >> bill: that's a very good point. joe can say, hey, wait a minute you are talking about any friend and buddy. i thought biden's speech in charlotte was magnificent when he talked about seeing obama in those moments when only the two of them were there. >> right. >> bill: so, yeah you are right. joe can come out defending his friend, and say i'm not going to let you get away with that. and here is the truth. >> bill: that is an excellent look at it debbie.

appreciate that. here is pam from up in bedford new hampshire. i was just there last week. hi, pam, good morning. >> caller: good morning, i would like to say that i hope joe goes after all of the stuff as far and women's -- ah -- >> bill: women's health. >> caller: and that book "do not ask what we do" is a great book. >> bill: pam that is an excellent point that another thing -- and people said that about last week's debate that the president failed to make a point of, was all of the things he has done in terms of protecting women's health and expanding the opportunities that women have under obamacare to get protection without a co-pay

to be covered by medicare and medicaid and covered by your basic insurance plan tremendous strides in that area something that the president did not brag about, but that joe biden ought to brag about, and point out the difference between obama and rom fly on that issue. when we come back wanda somers has been out there, and we'll talk about the post debate reaction. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ you'll have your voice be part of this democracy and see your tweets up on our screen. >>now that's politically direct.

(vo) john fugelsang sees what happens. i like mitt romney but i'm sorry. they guy has flipped more than a crack house mattress. (vo) so we gave him a weekly show. >> thank you. ♪ >> announcer: heard around the

country, and seen on current tv. this is the bill press. >> bill: 13 minutes now before the top of the hour on this thursday october 11th, it is the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capitol, and brought to you today by the united steelworkers and their international president. north america largest industrial union, representing over 1.2 million active and retired members. you can find out more about the great work that they are doing in this country, bringing the steal industry back to the united states at their website. on the road with mitt romney now in the lexington, kentucky ready to report on tonight's vice presidential debate, juana summers. >> good morning. >> bill: thank for joining us

again. i have my nat's cap on this morning, and i'm sure you have yours on too. >> dirty secret, i am actually a huge cardinal's fan. >> bill: good-bye juana. [ laughter ] >> bill: get ready to be embarrassed letter today. on the road with mitt romney. did he give a lift out of last week's performance. >> people really believe these changes in the polls we have seen are going to last and mitt romney effectively took down the president and showed the real contrast between the two of them. and they are expecting that to

continue tonight. he has done a little bit of debate prep. he was out on the road on sunday and ohio and michigan on monday and yesterday after his debate prep in florida, he dropped in with a local ice cream shop and chatted with local reporters. >> bill: what did he tell you? >> paul ryan said joe biden has to defend the president's policy. and he said joe biden is one of the best debaters. of course we know that is playing the expectation game. this is paul ryan's first opportunity to debate on a national stage.

he said i don't know how much of an effect it is going to have but you guys will be debating it until the end of the earth. >> bill: yes. paul ryan is a very effective public speaker, and very smart, so they are playing the expectations game a little bit on that side as well. do you think -- have you gotten the sense that ryan feels -- everybody has been talking about the pressure on joe biden to make up for the president's not so stellar performance last week. is there also, do you sense pressure on paul ryan to maintain the pace, right? to keep up with romney's performance? >> i think that there is certainly an extreme amount of pressure on paul ryan to do exactly that. if you talk to people in the romney camp they believe the debate win by mitt romney last week was absolutely critical.

this came after a month or so of just horrible press for romney gaffes on the campaign trail, unforced errors and this debate give them a silver lining and a path to get past those things. if paul ryan majorly flubs this debate tonight, that is not going to be a good thing for them. that could affect the polls in a way that the campaign does not want. >> bill: what do you of this attempt to soften mitt romney to the kinder gentler side? he tried that on abortion and then the house from the tea partiers and conservatives were so extreme that two days later he had to come back and say no

no no i am pro-life. >> the romney campaign will tell you they don't believe he changed his position. paul ryan said he isn't disappointed from what he saw from his running mate and they have a unified position on this issue. whether you are changing your position or not. that's a problem that hits at the crux that conservatives have about mitt romney. is this someone who sticks with his plans or changes constantly. and i think you have to be careful there. >> bill: yes, and it raises the question again, what does mitt romney really believe? on one hand say i'm going to appoint clarence thomas's to

overrule rowee v. wade. and then the says he is not against abortion. hey, juana? >> uh-huh? >> bill: no nats. >> i'll let you have that one. >> bill: thank you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." lysol knows the soft places we love could be home to thousands of bacteria. so use lysol disinfectant spray on soft surfaces everyday when you're cleaning up to keep your home healthy. it kills 99.9% of bacteria

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♪ >> announcer: taking your emails on any topic at anytime. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current

tv. >> bill: okay. in the next hour we'll talk to bill straus a surrogate for the obama campaign and massachusetts senator. greg albright says hey, bill great show. today was my first day listening. thank you, greg. tell all of your friends. frank points out, i remember how ward dean's screen was played over and over again to ruin his primary hopes. now we hear how bad president obama's performance was. and kirk says the media ought to be more honest. and mitt should never have been

allowed to get away with so any blatant lies. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." lop blooep

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: good morning, everybody. what do you say in this thursday, october 11th. good to see you today welcome to nat's headquarters and welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. we have got a lot to talk about this morning. how about this? oh my god for a long time we considered lance arm strong our hero, then he learned that he

just might have been on performance-enhancing drugs, and now the latest report shows that lance arm strong was head of an international operation to pressure all of his teammates to take performance-enhancing drugs. lance armstrong hero no more. that's for sure. now here we go with today's current news it's lisa ferguson. hi, lisa good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. you are all thinking of what to watch during tonight's debate. we can expect ryan's budget proposal medicare cuts and fiscal cliff will come up. plus there is always the entertainment factor which means we'll be looking for political gaffes, but more specifically

and importantly, there are some facts to brush up on before the debate. think progress has a list of 12 things that everyone needs to know. and here are some of the top. ryan's budget proposes $5.3 trillion in cut not coming from the defense department. that means more than $3 trillion of those cuts are coming from programs that specifically help low-income americans. also expect ryan to attack obamacare tonight. he will likely call at it government takeover and could even bring up the death panel lie. but ryan used to support president obama's plan. 2009 he proposed very similar to these oversight boards that he

is now calling death boards. he also believed rape victims should not have access to abortions, and cosponsored a personhood amendment. more bill after the break. stay with us. ♪ viewer for capella university. matter. i've been a nurse since 1979. i love being a nurse. a few years ago a friend i went to grade school with showed me a book she had kept from third grade. i had written that i wanted to be a nurse. after being a nurse for about twenty years i decided that i need to further my education. my masters degree was done completely online and that gave me the freedom and ability to do my education while i raised my kids and worked full time. raising my kids as a single mom and having them see me get my education online and work full-time has given them the opportunity to see that they can do anything that they want to. i'm currently the hospital administrator for two public

hospitals. we serve patients who might not otherwise get care. i teach an online nursing program. i feel that i'm giving back something to the nurses that are attempting to get their bachelors degree like i did. doing online education is something that i suggest to many, many people.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all eyes on lexington, kentucky. all democratic hopes pinned on joe biden. hey, hello, what do you say everybody? thursday october 11th. this is the "full court press," welcome, welcome to the program. good to see you today wherever you happen to be in this great land of ours. we're coming to you live from

our nation's capitol. bringing you the news of the day from our nation's capitol. nats didn't do so well yesterday. this is still the nat's headquarters. and we're taking your calls at 866-55-press. great to see you today. come on join the team today, join the program. with peter ogburn dan henning, and our videographer monty. i have my nat-tude flag. >> there is a game today. >> bill: there is. and the nates are going to tie it up today? >> are you going? >> no. so the nates have a chance? >> let me just say this if you don't go today and the nats win, i don't know what i am going to have to do to keep you away from

game five but i will keep you away from game five. >> bill: i beam in ashville north carolina. >> that's right. thank you, ashville. >> bill: at avenue m restaurant at 6:00 pm friday evening. >> if anybody else would have you come out and meet and greet, bill is always up for it just make sure you schedule the appear rans during all of the games. >> bill: at one point i turned to carol and said have we ever gone to a game where they have won. >> the curse. >> i said the curse of teddy. they let teddy win, and now they are not looking so good. >> and teddy won yesterday. >> i'm telling you, i'm telling

you, the curse of teddy. if they go out in the first round of the playoffs i'm furious. [ laughter ] >> bill: by the way, i have to say. i know this is -- this is borderline, but ann romney is starting to really bug the crap out of me. you know? so she's on gma yesterday, sort of one of their substitute hosts, right? >> uh-huh. >> bill: and she again gets into defending her dressage horses by bringing up her health problems again. >> i was very much worried about my life. i turned to horses and my life has been dramatically different. >> bill: i'm sorry. just cut that crap out. look, i know several friends of

mine that have ms. the idea that i have ms therefore it is okay for me to go buy three or four, or five dressage horses that are like 300,000, 400,000, $500,000 horse -- come on. not it off. not everybody in dressage -- i'm just talking about ann romney. she probably has three dressage horse for every vacation house, which means they have at least 21. bill straus is going to join us.

he is up there in massachusetts plugging for the obama campaign. he joins us at the top of the hour, but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> in the bay area the giants staved off elimination by winning their game. on the east coast, here of course we mentioned the cardinals shutting out the washington nationals 8-0. and a nail biting game the orioles lose. it is now a must-win for the orioles. >> bill: i am rooting for the giants. it was great to see them win

yesterday. >> rick scott got into an embarrassing situation. when he announced a help for a meningitis outbreak and he gave out the phone number and it was a sex hot line. >> oh man. >> bill: that's my solution whenever i'm feeling bad. >> call the phone sex line? >> bill: yeah. i pick right up. >> a new study by an economist, shows that a american only has to work about five minutes to earn what it costs to pay a beer. it shakes americans about half

the amount of time to work to buy a beer than the rest of the world. >> bill: all right. 12 minutes after the hour now. yes, indeed with mitt romney, you know, he still doesn't talk much about his days in massachusetts, but it's only fair if you are talking about the choice between barack obama and mitt romney to kick the tires and look at the reality of his tenure as governor in massachusetts. nobody shows him better than massachusetts state representative bill straus who has represented the 10th district in the bristol, massachusetts area. mr. representative good morning, sir. >> good morning. pleasure to be here. >> bill: good to talk to you.

bill -- if i may call you that -- >> yeah perfect. >> bill: you have served under five republicans. mitt romney painted it as a lovefest up there in massachusetts. what was it really like? >> i have to tell you, i was surprised when i watched that in the debate certainly surprised by a lot of things i saw in the debate from mitt romney. >> bill: right. >> because the guy that appeared last week was not the guy we tried to work with. and as you pointed out i worked with five didn't governors. and i know i think, something about bipartisanship in the 20 years i have been there. and mitt romney actually

governed as the severe conservative that he was apparently until last week. that's the real guy. i think what i saw last week was someone who just like when he ran for governor in 2002 realized that campaigning on his real beliefs wasn't going to work, and tried to paint himself as something more moderate more sincere, somebody more heart felt if you will. but the reality i would say he is someone who has run for office and beenel -- i have run for office and been elected 11 times.

the one program that really always -- i -- i -- i thought was horrible was we had a program to provide for low and moderate-income women, breast and cervical cancer-screening programs, and the idea there was of course prevention and treatment, and to those who might note have been in the health care system. those who would be hurt by his preexisting position today. and he vetoed funding for that bill. and when we overrode his veto trying to kill the program, not a single member of the house stood with mitt romney.

>> bill: no kidding? mitt romney yesterday, again, i heard him tell somebody, oh i'm a big believer in education. in massachusetts our schools are number one. basically saying thanks to me our schools are number one. >> we like to think there are number one, and there are objective studies out there that indicate that. but our model education reform program actually occurred in 1993 when we committed ourselves to a different management system for our school system and an aggressive scheduling of increased funding, where we added to our public school systems, $200 million more a year. that was nine years before he even became governor. so the audacity to claim credit

for a program that was ongoing and in place when we happened to come into the governor's office was incredible. but that's mitt romney. he will say anything in order to gain political advantage, but the truth is the guy -- when he is in office -- and that was the one election he won, the governor's race. ran as a moderate and people want to see the best in others so in massachusetts the voters were willing to give him a chance. but from the day he came into office, he raised taxes on the middle class, and cut programs. >> bill: bill straus represent -- state representative in massachusetts is our guest here on this morning's "full court press." and the other bragging point for

mitt romney is that he proved he was a job creator. he says -- claims as governor of massachusetts. again, give us a reality test. the reality test there is we have what we think is a diverse economy. we have a knowledge center in our education areas much like states like california and we were pretty good at job creation at the time he got sworn into office. and he immediately dropped us from 47th out of 50. and in the end that really doesn't surprise you. because when you look at the business experience he taughts. it had nothing to do with creating jobs it had to do with helping investors.

i can tell you in my region of the state, which is the south coast area south of boston. our major initiatives he was awol in terms of working with legislatures, so job creation did not occur when he was governor. and when someone else succeeded him, we have come back to that we're ahead of the terms of the rest of the country right now in job creation. there is more to go nationwide and even in our state. but in massachusetts i know we don't want to go back and one of the things that is proof in the pudding is mitt romney never campaigns for president in massachusetts. [ laughter ] >> it's no accident that it is not a battle grown state. >> bill: i want to ask you very

quickly, and quick response if you will. elizabeth warren and scott brown another debate last night. how it is looking? >> i'm very optimistic that elizabeth warrant will catch scott brown. i know him pretty well and she is an engaging personality. i was campaigning with her in new bedford and people just come up to her, because she is being straightforward, and as she pointed out last night. scott brown can say he is pro choice, but when he had to vote that way, redid not. the one chance he had in the u.s. senate to vote for pay for equal women, he did not. >> bill: from your lips to god's years, we want to see elizabeth

warren down here. my friend thanks so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> bill: we'll be right back on the "full court press." >> announcer: radio, meeting television, the "bill press show." now on current tv. ♪ like you. >> so keep on tweeting and maybe you'll have your voice be part of this democracy and see your tweets up on our screen. >>now that's politically direct.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: today you meets television. the "bill press show," now on current tv. >> bill: 26ing minutes after the hour. nancy cook will be here in studio with us starting in the

next segment. interesting item caught my attention this morning. how about this? yesterday -- i just want to mention this, get it out there. yesterday in st. peters square in rome, the pope usually talks in german spanish, english, and it italian, and yesterday the first time the pope prayed and said hello in arabic. >> really? >> bill: yes. i knew he was a muslim. [ laughter ] >> let's see the birth certificate. >> bill: barack obama and benedict the 16th. two closet muslims. [ laughter ] >> bill: we were talk about the elizabeth warren and scott brown race. last week, a friend of mine came over, and she told us about her

encounter with scott brown. he had come to a festival in new bedford. and she was a elizabeth warren supporter, and she had several of her signs ripped down by scott brown people. and she says to scott brown, do you believe in free speech? >> and he said why? and she said 15 of my signs have been ripped down by your people. and scott brown said that has nothing to do with me? and she said yes, i think it does, because this is your campaign staff and maybe you ought to put out the word that this is not the way to behave. and scott brown said if you want

to talk to the campaign, you talk to them. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. >> bill: how about it? 33 minutes after the hour now. this is the "bill press show." good to have you with us. we are coming to you from your nation's capitol and brought to you by the good federation of teachers. you can find out more about the good job they are doing in

classrooms across the country at aft.org big night tonight. the first and only vice presidential debate of this campaign season. all eyes on joe biden, and all eyes also on paul pau. can he keep the hopes of the republicans up after mitt romney gave them a pretty good -- a very good performance last week. one who knows paul ryan best has covered him on the hill "politico" reporter -- i guess correspondent. >> whichever. >> good to see you. >> thanks for having me on.

>> bill: first just generally. your beat is the economy. how is the american economy doing today over all? just as a non-partisan look? >> the economy is doing okay. last floyd were jobs numbers that came out that showed that the unemployment rate has fallen below 8% which was a huge boost. but the economy still has a long way to go. people are not necessarily hiring. wages are fairly flat, so it will take a while for the economy to get back on its feet. >> bill: where is it so slow coming back? >> people haven't necessarily been hiring. workers have not necessarily seen their wages go up so people are starting to spend money again, slowly and cautiously, but it hasn't necessarily been as fast as people had wanted it to be.

and there has been such a prolonged economic downturn. >> bill: the "new york times" mentions that americans are starting to feel better about the economy. >> the data doesn't necessarily indicate that they should but yet, they are feeling more confident. >> bill: and how do you explain that? they are tired of feeling blue? >> i think that's part of it and for a lot of people the unemployment numbers are really cut across class ade indication lines, so if you are a concern who has a college degree or master's degree, and you live in a city like washington, d.c. you don't know a ton of people who are unemployed at this point. so if you are not living in that bubble, it seems as though the economy is getting better.

where it is not getting better is for working-class people in a lot of the swing states. >> bill: yeah washington, d.c. you wouldn't know there is a sluggish economy in washington. look at restaurants -- >> yeah capitol hill is booming. 14th street all of these different neighborhoods are. >> bill: now, so you cover budget, you cover economy, taxes, mitt romney -- on taxes, mitt romney has said it's not true that i am going to cut taxes $5 trillion and certainly i will never cut taxes in any way that is going to add to the deficit. is that possible? >> well, it remains to be seen. a big part of the problem with his tax plan is just the lack of specifics. so when he said i'm not going to do this, he is really saying you

have to trust me so that this $5 trillion tax cut doesn't blow a hole in the deficit. >> bill: yeah i'll cut $4.8 trillion, but that's not going to cut into the deficit, because i'm going to close loopholes -- >> exactly. >> bill: that means there is really no loss in revenue. are there enough loopholes to close and is he willing to close them all? >> yeah the tax policy institute has called into question whether or not you can get rid of enough loopholes -- >> bill: and they said you can't. >> yeah. and there are some very politically popular tax breaks that middle class families take advantage of. like tax breaks for your

healthcare that employers give you, and even if you wanted to get rid of them to lower the tax rates, politically that would be an incredibly difficult thing to do. >> bill: so he said you can never deduct more than $17,000. >> that's one of his new tax plans, and it has received support from both parties over the years. so now what he is saying is -- i'm not going to get rid of all tax breaks. i'm just going to cap the dollar amount. when i talked to his campaign last week they said we'll cap it at 17,000 and then later on they said maybe it will be 25 maybe 50 -- >> bill: that's because i would add he heard from some of his wealthy friends that said what

do you mean cap at $17,000? >> yeah, i think he is trying to say i'm not going to make any huge plans and commit to them before i get into office. >> bill: exactly. he won't tell us that or release his tax returns or tell us any details at all. >> president obama, one of the arguments is -- he has not worked with congress very well. and he says once i get in office i'll make these with the help of congress. >> bill: if you want to join us we encourage you to. 866-55-press is how you get here. 866-55-press 866-557-7377. the other thing is this black cloud hang over the congress

called sequestration. >> uh-huh. >> bill: there are rumors that even republicans are now saying we cannot let this happen. we're going to have to have some compromise. first question on that just to reaffirm, i think, reality, this is congress's doing, right? romney and ryan want to blame obama. but obama has not proposed them. >> exactly. people wanted to figure out a way to reduce the deficit, so they agreed to this automatic spending cuts that would take effect in 2013 -- >> in the special joint committee didn't come up with a plan. >> exactly. >> both sides have said this is

not a good thing, so this is not a popular policy. and this is a -- >> bill: a club or a threat or something? >> exactly. it's like a blunt instrument to try to get congress come to the table. so there's the question what is the agreement going to be? >> bill: right, so republicans are going to have to give on revenues, except some new revenues, correct? it has to be some balanced approach? >> right. >> bill: do you agree with that? >> it depends some of the senator have said they would be open to closing loopholes or not necessarily raising tax rates but finding ways to unravel the

sequester. it remains to be seen even though everyone agrees this is bad policy how it will actually work. >> bill: is it possible to resolve this and still continue the bush tax cuts? >> i think one to resolve it is republicans are open to closing loopholes or getting rid of tax breaks if it's billed as tax reform. so that's a way to tell it to the house republicans -- >> bill: but that doesn't answer my question. don't you somewhere to get rid of the bush tax cuts in order to come up with a solution? >> if you got rid of the bush tax cuts that would be a huge chunk of money. the problem i think president obama and the democrats are facing is those are tax cuts for people across the whole income-- i

don't think it will solve any deficit problem over any long return. that's 2% of the taxpayers that we're talking about. and one of the things we'll have to deal with over the next decade is that to really get some of these entightments under control -- >> bill: all right. we're going to take a break, because i want to challenge that. >> okay. >> bill: it's a hell of a lot more money than big bird is. nancy cook is in the studio with us. we're just getting started here. 866-55-press is our toll free number. join the conversation. >> announcer: this is the >> bill: >> bill: show, live on your radio and current tv. >> so keep on tweeting and maybe

you'll have your voice be part of this democracy and see your tweets up on our screen. >>now that's politically direct.

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>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. here we go 12 minutes now before the hour. we're talking politics economics, taxes. we're talk debate performance with nancy cook of the national journal. first a quick note, you may be struggling to make ends meet at the end of each month here is something to consider.

you can literally own money on your own computer 24/7 all you need is a little extra time and the coaching you'll get from incomeathome.com. if your goal is to earn some extra money at home part or full-time, go to incomeathome.com. they are adding my listeners in record numbers, even giving away a thousand dollars to somebody just for checking them out. find out more at incomeathome.com. so nancy, someone who has covered paul ryan seen him up close, what can we expect tonight from paul ryan. i mean he is good on his feet isn't he? >> he is great on his feet. i thought at the republican national convention he gave a very good speech.

he is god at attacking president obama's policies. and i think he will talk about how the president hasn't been portraying the tax cut program and things like that. he can get a little testy when challenged. and he had a tendency to get into deeply wonk issues. >> bill: he also if i may have a tendency not to tell the truth, or to exaggerate. for example, the $716 billion, which he used in his speech in tampa, mitt romney repeated it in the debate which every independent fact checker has

said is just not true. he has got to know that that's thin ice if he goes there tonight, right? or do you think he'll try it again? >> i don't know if he'll try it. he has also criticized president obama for not supporting simpson bowles. so i don't know if he will try those lines just they have been fact checked. i'm not sure that he will want to go backwards like that. i think he'll try to hit the president on tax policies economic policies, make it much more about the state of the economy, and how he feels that the republicans can do a better job than president obama. >> bill: if he were to try to go there on the $716 billion or -- or the other issue you mentioned there, do you think -- do you have any doubt

that joe biden will pounce? >> i think he will. joe biden is a great debater, did a great job in the last debate in 2008 against sarah palin. he is very effective and disciplined when he is debating as opposed to on the campaign trail when he is known to make some gaffes. he is very effective at seeming very real linable, relatable to people -- >> bill: and defending barack obama. >> exactly. so i think it will be a great debate. >> bill: one issue that president obama did not raise in the first debate was mitt romney's comments on the 47%. >> yeah, that seemed like a failed opportunity for the democrats. >> bill: do you expect it to

come up? >> i think it may come up. >> bill: joe biden will probably mention it. >> yes and that comment is a very effective way to also get into some of the romney/ryan budget ideas because when romney was talking about the 47%, he was talking about the people that don't pay federal income tax and people dependent on government services and quite frankly most people are dependent on the government at some point in their lives. so it's a very effective way to go after the republicans' bigger economic policies. >> bill: incurred. nancy good to have you in studio. thanks so much for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> bill: you can follow nancy and others at the national journal, at nationaljournal.com.

nancy, again, thank you. >> thanks again. >> bill: good to see you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, you bet it is. so in terms of schedule my schedule, first of all, tomorrow evening, friday, october 12th going to be in ashville north carolina at avenue m restaurant. 6:00 to 8:00 pm tomorrow. big political rally. i'll be signing copies of my new

book "the obama hate machine." it will be a lot of fun. president obama back on the campaign trail today starts at the white house getting the morning briefing at 9:45 this morning, meeting with the senior advise source and then just a little bit before noon he'll hop on marine one, and fly down to miami, back to the key battleground state of florida. a big campaign event this afternoon at the university of miami, and then the president goes back to miami at the jw marriott, marquee at 7:00 this evening, and then heading back here to washington arrives back at the white house at 10:30 this morning. michael covers politics for the daily beast. he'll be in studio with us as a

friend of bill. and we'll talk to jim graves in the next hour.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: hey, good morning, everybody. good to see you today, and welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. it is the "full court press" and it is nat's baseball headquarters here in washington, d.c., coming to you live from our national capitol and bringing you up to date on the stories of the day here in washington ash the country and globe, and inviting you to join the conversation give us at a

call at 866-55-press. a big day today, big night tonight, and of course everybody looking forward to the one and only vice presidential debate of the someone. a lot of pressure on joe biden and paul ryan. but in the end the choice remains the same. going forward with obama or backward with mitt romney. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here but first a little time out to get the latest. with current news lisa ferguson. >> good morning, everyone, paul ryan's main focus said is the debate. but another of ryan's opponents is also in danville. ryan is simultaneously running for his seat in congress and in the case he does not win the

vice presidentsy, and does win the state election, he can reclaim his seat in the house. his opponent is spending the day in kentucky telling people he is abandoning his seat. ryan is expected to win his house seat again this year and if the romney/ryan ticket does claim the white house, wisconsin will hold a special election to replace him. polling places are not doing enough to make buildings handicap accessible and companies that sell portable wheelchair ramps say they are not seeing the same number of sales as they did in 2008.

even then less that a third of polling places were not handicap accessible. we are live in chat current.com/billpress current.com/billpress.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all eyes on lexington, kentucky tonight and all democratic hopes spin on jolten

joe biden. give us a call at 866-55-press and go to current tv and chick on the chat room with a lot of your full court pressers across the land debating the issues here on the air. we'll tell you what is happening around the country and globe this is nat's headquarters as well. we're pretty disappointed in an loss to the cardinals yesterday. so sports politics religion sex, we cover it all here on the "full court press," and we are glad speaking of sex to welcome -- [ laughter ] >> bill: one of the sexiest journalist around the area today. >> yeah, i'm always called that. >> bill: everywhere you go.

good to see you today. >> good to be here. >> bill: and we have the team back. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> peter maybe if you would have come to the game we would have had better luck. >> i keep saying this you can't go to anymore games. >> bill: middle of the game i get a text from peter saying i blame you. >> yeah they rolled up four runs on us pretty quickly. and i immediately said this is because bill is there. >> bill: yeah, right. and we also want to say hello to monty, siprion bolling off on special assignment i forget was it maui or kawai? >> he just muttered something as he walked out. he looked great in his grass

skirt, by the way. [ laughter ] >> bill: there is still an amazing amount of spillover from last week's presidential debate. yesterday the president sat down with diane sawyer. here he is. >> that debate what happened? >> obama: governor romney had a good night. had a bad night. >> how bad? >> obama: it's not the first time i had a bad night, but what is important is the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed. governor romney went to a lot of trouble to try to hide what his positions are. >> bill: that's kind of it. >> yeah. that's it. plus the second thing he said is also true. >> bill: yeah. >> i think obama was caught totally flat footed and completely surprised -- >> bill: but the mendasdy and

audacity. >> yes. it's not an execution for obama because he should have instantly seen what is this guy trying to do? >> bill: hey, wait a minute let's have a reality check here. >> so it's not an excuse, but it is an explanation. >> bill: yeah. and tonight we're counting on joe to be joe. we continue our meet the candidates week here on "full court press." today's candidate, democratic candidate from minnesota, jim graves will be joining us just a little bit later. but first. >> overhead lines making us in on this thursday. a load of strong evidence against lance armstrong was released yesterday. the u.s. anti-doping agency releasing over a thousand pages of testimony from 26 people 15 of those cyclists talking about

his doping activities while on the u.s. cycling team. they say it shows without a doubt that they ran the most successful doping program that sports has ever seen. >> bill: have you heard about this? >> i read one story. it is shocking. >> the way they flew doctors around and converted hotel rooms into basically operating rooms. >> bill: yeah we'll talk about that. >> people love trains and are riding them more now that everyone. ridership for the year-long period ending in september set a record high, 31.2 million people riding the rails. trains on the east coast between washington and boston seeing an increase upwards of 5%.

taking a somewhat of a significant market share from airplanes. >> bill: i did a train on monday. anybody -- i know i'm going to offend a lot of people but anybody who flies to new york from washington, d.c. is an idiot. that train is so sweet, so great. the service is so great, and it's the only way to go. >> and they have great hot dogs -- >> the wifi is not that great. >> bill: that's true. >> and washington is just not a sports town. heart and mind strategies asking washingtonians would you say you are more of a follower of sports or politics. 60% saying politics, 33% saying sports. the results show it's clear, washingtonians prefer c-span over espn and the only time we talk about sports is monday

mornings after a redskins game? >> bill: what do you mean? that survey, i think does ring true. but at the nats yesterday -- 45,000 people there. people were out of their -- >> there were a lot of sad-looking non-sports fans yesterday. >> bill: yes, they were. all right, dan, thank you. >> you got it. >> bill: you know, i can't resist starting off with this lance armstrong thing, because we all considered him a hero and it turns out -- there were rumors that he was taking these performance-enhancing drugs. okay didn't want to believe it at first, then it looks like you kind of have got to believe it. and then he decided to stop fighting it. but peter give us a thumbnail sketch of what this report says.

he was actually using a team of doctors, right? >> yeah, when you look at the baseball stories of guys doping. they have a doctor and sneak off and get injections. a shot. that is the not what this is they say it is one of the most detailed and successful doping -- >> bill: what were they doing? >> when they have this tainted blood, right -- they essentially went through a good transfusion and they have these doctors that will fly from country to country even, and they give them fresh new clean blood and they convert these hotel rooms into basically operating rooms, and they lay on the bed and the doctors hook them up and they do the blood swap. that sounds like supervillain type stuff. >> bill: and lance armstrong was the ringleader and he was

pressuring his other teammates on the post service team to do the same thing. >> yeah that's the other part of this -- it's easy to say he is a bad guy. he is a bad guy, i think. but this is starting to become the norm in cycling. a lot of people are doing this -- >> bill: this far? >> this far. he took it this far, and then more cycles are picking up on it and using it. >> bill: michael it's shocking. seriously. is this criminal by the way? >> you got me -- >> it's against the rules. >> bill: it is against the rules, but is there a possible criminal investigation here? i guess not. >> i don't think there are really criminal -- >> bill: these are not illegal drugs, are they? >> there must be some obstruction of justice.

>> bill: yeah, it's not like rush limbaugh was popping oxycontin or whatever. i mean, this idea these -- little private medical -- >> geez. >> bill: -- clinics that he was setting up -- >> and then to deny this for the number of years he denied it and knowing that his situation with his cancer would increase public sympathy for him and so on and so forth. i wonder if all of this stuff is tied to cancer in any way. who knows? but it is just mind blowing. >> bill: yeah, pretty sick indeed. michael you wrote this morning about the vice presidential debate what to look forward to tonight. what shall we anticipate? >> i want to see joe biden reset and refrain the economic story that americans are understanding here in the 9th inning of this

battle, right? the economic narrative that came out of the first debate was terrible for the democrats. it was -- this bad thing happened, and obama was supposed to fix it and he hasn't fixed it, and he has been a failure. and if that is the economic narrative of the next 26 days the democrats will lose. biden has to say 12 years ago -- >> bill: i got it. >> this other president took office 12 years ago, he said i'm cutting taxes and you regulation and you watch the economy boom. and he did those things and we know what happened to the economy. obama and i spent the last four years trying to bring this back -- with no help from those people -- to bring us back -- >> bill: good point. >> and now you have ryan and

romney who want to do exactly what bush did, but even more so on steroids they want to do what bush did on steroids and they expect you to forget and buy that story. it's not going to work. he has to be really forceful about telling that story, so that gets drilled into people's minds, i think. >> bill: and doesn't he have to be as forceful in shooting or knocks down any of the lies that come out of paul ryan. >> absolutely. >> bill: and they were legendary. and paul ryan is going to try to probably get away with the same crap. >> yeah, he is about their tax plan and the ryan budget and biden definitely needs to have done his homework on both of those things. know the facts and figures. come up with the right way to say it in 30 or 60 seconds,

because we know ryan is going to say, we're not lowering taxes for rich people and will budget will not decimate domestic programs. >> bill: what gets me is -- and i think -- you alluded to this earlier, is this is what really rattled president obama, is to hear the total mendacity of that statement you just repeated. we are not going provide a tax break to high-income taxpayers. that's a lie. >> yeah. >> bill: the ryan plan is the bush tax cuts on steroids. >> yes. [ overlapping speakers ] >> in any case -- >> bill: how can they just boldly keep asserting that? >> what they are trying to say

is if we impose a cap on deductions that cap will limit what rich people can deduct. and it won't come close to offsetting the marginal rate reduction that they are trying to push through for the top 1%. i think biden should say something like look, if you don't want to cut taxes on rich people, then why not keep the rate the same? >> bill: uh-huh. >> what is this roux goldberg con tap -- contraption? >> bill: and what about getting back to basic math. it just doesn't add up. >> yeah. yeah. >> bill: when romney says i'm going to do all of this and yet no more burden on the middle class, the tax policy center says that's impossible. the middle class will end up

paying $2,000 per american family or more. >> yes and if that is not going to happen, there is one other alternative. you are going to blow a hole in the deficit that is huge. that will reach the swing voters more than anything i think. >> bill: it's 21 minutes after the hour. join the program and the conversation at 866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." of this democracy and see your tweets up on our screen. >>now that's politically direct.

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